Save Hear to Help in Perth and Kinross

Help #SaveHearToHelp in Perth and Kinross!

Help #SaveHearToHelp in Perth and Kinross!

Getting used to wearing hearing aids takes time and our Hear to Help support often makes the difference between someone persevering with their hearing aids or giving up, missing out on conversations and becoming socially isolated from friends, family and neighbours.

That’s why our volunteers and service users across Perth and Kinross are backing our #SaveHearToHelp campaign to help stop the pending closure of our much-loved community-based hearing aid support service on 30th September 2017.

Hear to Help provides free support for around 600 people in Perth and Kinross. We run six drop-in sessions in local libraries or community venues and through home visits to elderly people living in nursing / care homes and sheltered housing.

Our volunteers are trained by NHS audiology to clean ear moulds and replace tubing and batteries – locally delivered support which benefits many older people who are less mobile or housebound by enabling them to hear more clearly and live independently without the need to travel to hospital.

We have evidence to illustrate the cost-effectiveness of our service. Independent cost benefit analysis estimates that in 2014/15 Hear to Help saved NHS Tayside approximately £70,000 from the cost of providing aftercare appointments for our service users across the region.

Action on Hearing Loss Scotland believes that Hear to Help delivers the vision outlined in the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Delivery Plan (published in December 2016) of supporting people to self-manage their conditions in their own homes and communities.

Please contact your local councillor and MSPs to raise your concerns about the closure of Hear to Help and the impact it would have on your and/or people with hearing loss in your community.